2 Spokane club members head for trials

In the clear blue waters at Witter Pool, members of the Spokane Area Swimming team glide back and forth, spread out over nine lanes. There are as many as eight swimmers – kids of all ages – spread out over eight of the lanes, but the second belongs to Jenni Dole and Mason Shaw.

It’s Thursday afternoon, and for them, it’s their final practice – the second one of the day – before they depart for the 2008 Olympic swimming trials, which begin Sunday in Omaha, Neb.

Swimming’s most familiar name, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, will be there among the more than 1,000 American men and women racing for no more than 52 U.S. swim berths at Beijing.

“It’s the second-highest meet you can get to – in that aspect it’s a really neat accomplishment,” said Todd Marsh, who has coached the SAS team for 20 years. “To top that off, they are both high school-aged kids.

“It’s a huge deal.”

Training for Dole and Shaw is year-round, and in the summer months Marsh said they practice about five hours a day – a three-hour workout in the morning and two more in the evening.

Eighteen-year-old Dole, a recent Mead High graduate, said she has been working toward this goal since she was 12.

“Swimming is just me, I can’t really do anything else – it’s like my boyfriend almost,” joked Dole, who leaves today and swims in the women’s 100-meter butterfly event on Sunday.

Dole qualified for the trials last Friday at the Summer Solstice Meet in Spokane.

She had tried twice before – once at a meet a month and a half ago in Santa Clara and a couple of weeks ago at time trials in Seattle, where she came two-tenths of a second away from the qualifying time of 1 minute, 2.39 seconds.

This was her last shot.

“I would have nightmares about it,” said Dole, who traveled the course in 1:02.1 last Friday to qualify. “I was excited (to try again), but I was really scared, and once I finally made it, I could not sleep. It’s been my goal for a long time.”

Dole will attend Oregon State University next year on a full-ride scholarship. Her goal is to qualify for the NCAA championships her first year swimming for the Beavers, and to make it back to the Olympic trials in 2012.

For now, she’s grateful for the opportunity to be one of approximately 120 women competing for two spots this summer in Beijing.

“I’m just trying to get my best time and have fun – just trying to get the experience,” Dole said. “I’m so excited.”

Shaw, who will be a junior at Lake City High School in Coeur d’Alene this fall, has been swimming for Marsh for two years. He drives 45 minutes each way, often twice a day, to compete for Marsh.

Shaw, 16, leaves for Omaha on Monday and will race in a field of approximately 70 in the men’s 200-meter individual medley event on Thursday.

“I started swimming competitively when I was 6,” said Shaw, who qualified at the time trials in Seattle with a 2:06.8. “(Competing at the Olympic trials) is more just about the experience for me. This wasn’t the focus of my year.”

His immediate goal is to shave his time down to 2:05 in Omaha, and by the end of the summer he hopes to be down to a 2:04.

Whatever both swimmers are able to achieve at the meet, Marsh feels that Dole and Shaw have already made a huge splash.

“Perspective-wise, I’m looking at this as them gaining experience, maybe setting a goal of being in the top 50 (in their events) at these Olympic trials,” Marsh said. “Then maybe in four years the goal moves to maybe making the trial finals.

“It’s a very elite group of kids that can make it. It’s one of those things where it takes obviously a talented swimmer, but they have to have the drive.”